Shouldn't Have [TomTord]

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Ugh! What the hell? Why is it so cold in here?" And he's rubbing his cold and wet palms together as he fumbles to reach over for the keys to turn the car on, probably hoping that it'd get warmer once it's on. Tom watches as Tord continues to rub his cold arms and blow hot air into his hands, watching and calculating every tiny move and detail like a psychopath. Of course Tord notices this, which ends with him smirking at Tom's general direction and releasing a sickening and flirty tone, "Like what you see? Take a picture."

Tom, in turn, smiles and turns around to face the windshield of the car, "I think I'll pass, thanks."

"Whatever you say." And Tom can hear the Norwegian shrug his shoulders from the other side of the car.

Human behavior is weird and this is perfect evidence of that. Tord hates Tom apparently, yet here they and they're acting more like friends than ever before. Heck, they're treating each other better than how Tom had treated Edd the other night. One moment everything seems to go one way and everything is perfect and nothing is going wrong, but then some ginger bastard comes and says you're in love and suddenly nothing is the same or ever will be again. Tord should be grunting and huffing, folding his arms, and saying how much he loathes being in the same general area as Tom. Instead, now, he's smiling and winking and flirting.

This isn't how Tom pictured things to go, but he supposes that this might be a good start for the future of their dishonest and screwed romance.

"Where are we going?" Tord asks.

"Uhm," Tom had forgot to start driving, just sitting in the car and thinking about dumb things instead, "Not really anywhere I had in mind, on a count of the rain."

"Well, we can still walk somewhere? Rain never hurt anybody."

Tom turns to Tord and the first thing he notices is how lightly shaded his eyes are. They look like a new storm that's rolling in, where the blue sky is barely visible through the thick clouds blocking the way. They remind him of heavy rain and thunder, the striking shocks of lightning, and the rain that makes the road so slippery and causes accidents. They remind him of an upsetting car crash due to the rain that coated the roads and sent the car flying. Tord's eyes hold destruction and tell the stories of many sad events, none of which have ever happened to himself. Seeing this, Tom nearly laughs. If he's seeing all of this in Tord's eyes, God only knows what kind of stuff the Norwegian must see in Tom's sockets. Pure darkness; his greatest fear.

"You'd be surprised on the kind of stuff rain can do." A small smile, but it's quickly dropped the moment Tom restarts the car engine and puts his hand on the gear shift.

"We aren't going to leave Matt in the store, are we?" Tord sounds skeptical and nearly judging, but it doesn't faze nor scare Tom anymore.

"He'll survive." And they're off. Off onto the slippery road that's coated in the dirtied rain from the storm clouds above.

.:.

The roads weren't as bad as Tom had imagined they would be, but suppose that's a good thing. Suppose maybe he should've dropped his expectation and made it where he didn't have to expect so much from something that is easily volatile. He shouldn't have expected so much from something that ruined what he also expected to be a better day. Expectations, expectations. Always lower the bar for anything.

Which is why Tom expects this day with Tord to go worse than it would if they weren't starting to become as close as they are now. Maybe he should expect that Tord will run away screaming and shouting to the whole town about Tom's mistakes and fears that were earlier confessed the night before. Always expect less.